Rajon Rondo with the Celtics as a sort of coach

NEW YORK — Injured Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo is with the team in New York to give insights into the series, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Saturday. Rondo was supposed to travel down to New York Friday but was stuck in Boston with most of the city in lockdown. Rivers said he appreciated the contributions of his hobbled All-Star.

“He probably coaches as much as anybody,” said Rivers. “I don’t know if it helps, I think it does. As a player you tend to listen to the players in the uniforms over the suits and ties. So we’ll see. He was great today in shootaround. He knew every set the Knicks were running. When we called out a set to talk through it, he was pointing where everybody should be.”

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“It’s amazing. He’s always been that way. He’s not playing and yet he studied the book.”

Rivers quipped that Rondo could have a career in coaching someday if not for one flaw.

“He’s always been on another level,” said Rivers. “I always tell him that if he wasn’t so crazy he’d be a great coach.

Rivers did say he would miss having Rondo on the floor.

“I’ve never gone into any game or series without a point guard on the team,” he said. “We don’t have a point guard. That would be the concern going into the playoffs for me. Everybody’s going to pressure us, it’s no secret. With Rondo you have the ability to think your way out of it. No one presses Rondo. If they do, he can figure it out and run our stuff. We don’t have that. That’s been taken away from us, and that’s a big chunk of your offense obviously.”